""The cloud of trapped particles efficiently converts the laser energy into cascades of high energy photons – a phenomena that is very fortunate. It's an amazing thing that the photons from this source can be of such high energy," says Mattias Marklund, professor at the Department of Physics at Chalmers."

""The cloud of trapped particles efficiently converts the laser energy into cascades of high energy photons – a phenomena that is very fortunate. It's an amazing thing that the photons from this source can be of such high energy," says Mattias Marklund, professor at the Department of Physics at Chalmers."

"Researchers have discovered a highly efficient way to produce high energy photon beams. The obtained energy is a billion times higher than the energy of photons in visible light. These high-intensity gamma rays significantly exceed all known limits, and pave the way towards new fundamental studies."

"The obtained energy is a billion times higher than the energy of photons in visible light."

"The experiments involved creating a spherical cloud consisting of nothing but millions of cold rubidium-87 atoms. The researchers then fired a pulse of infrared light at the cloud (the frequency was described as "far detuned" from rubidium-87 transitions) and found the cloud responded by behaving similarly to a lens, deflecting the light and causing the cloud to become longer and thinner—the light beam essentially squished the sphere into a new shape. The researchers note that the parameters of the beam they fired at the cloud had been idealized to reduce the force between the light's electric field and the individual rubidium atoms.

The researchers suggest the change in cloud shape resulted from the collective effect of the laser acting on all of the atoms in the cloud—conservation of momentum caused the atoms to respond to a force pushing against them in a direction opposite the deflection. The team has invented a term to describe the overall effect: electrostriction. They note that they ran their experiments on booth Bose-Einstein condensates and clouds at higher temperatures."